What the Rain Knows
by hikari yuuko
Summary: [IchigoxRukia] Some of Ichigo's most important moments in life happened under the rain. It seems as if... the rain is always there... Set after Soul Society arc


**What the Rain Knows**

**By Adriana Santomé.**

**December 13th, 2004.**

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The rain hadn't stop falling since noon. Karakura city was clouded and dark; gray shadows reigning in silence. His clothes were dripping wet, the jacket forgotten at home, his hair falling over his eyes and sticking to the sides of his face. His mood was just as gloomy as the day. It wasn't that he didn't like the rain, but sometimes it didn't help much to improve his temper.

"What are you doing here?"

As soon as the sharp, feminine voice was heard, the rain stopped falling over his shoulders. He turned around to look at her over his shoulder, still sitting on the stone stairs.

"Rukia?" He seemed uncertain at first. "What are _you_ doing here?" he snapped back accusatorily.

She allowed herself to roll her eyes before answering plainly.

"I came for you, obviously," she replied. "You'll catch a cold. Let's go."

He snorted at her order and looked away from her, back at the swing set on the playground below. "You're pretty late then. I'm drenched already if you haven't noticed, yet."

"That's why we are going home now," she said, annoyed, "Come on, Ichigo."

By her tone, he knew she was getting impatient. And yet, he couldn't avoid noticing the concern laced with her voice. But he was imagining things, right?

"It was raining back then. Did I ever tell you that?" Ichigo started suddenly, a grimace on his face.

There was a pause of silence before she said anything. The rain fell harder, and small rivers of water ran down the streets. Rukia frowned.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Her free hand rested on her hip and she looked at him suspiciously.

Ah, sensitive Rukia as always.

He laughed softly, his face contorting into a smirk and then back to his usual frown.

"It was raining… when Mother died," he let out with a sigh.

"Oh."

"When the Fisher came, it was raining," he said as well, his voice below a whisper. He growled slightly and shook his head.

Her left hand slipped from her hip and she was left speechless for a while, watching the rain fall and curling her fingers tighter around the umbrella. She had intended to place a hand on his shoulder, but that wasn't like her. A soft "I'm sorry" came out from her lips and they were both back to the previous silence.

"Why do you apologize?" Ichigo asked, slightly turning to look at her over his shoulders. Rukia held a deep breath as his eyes looked deeply into hers. "There's nothing to be sorry about. There was nothing you could have done."

"Ichigo…"

His Mother's death hadn't stopped being a touchy subject between the two. But it felt as if they were a step closer to being able to talk about it.

"I'm okay, really," he said indifferently, "It was just a thought…"

The dark-haired girl looked at his him confusedly. Instead, she tried to change the subject. "Please, let's go home," she insisted again, "You'll really catch a cold if we don't go now and get your clothes changed. I'm _not_ gonna look after you if you get sick, you heard me? Besides, I…"

"It was raining then too…"

She froze, and the question slipped from her lips. "When?"

"When you left." Ichigo's orange head returned to look ahead, shoulders slumping down a little. "It seems as if… the rain is always there… running down my face…"

Her eyes widened as he stood up and turned around, swiftly taking the umbrella from her hands. He was way taller than her anyway. Rukia said nothing, silently taking in everything he had said.

Ichigo looked down at her, waiting, and the former shinigami couldn't help to notice that what Kon had said once was true, his brows were always set into a frown. Her hair swayed with the wet breeze that went past them as she talked.

"You kept your promise of dragging me out no matter what," she said, smiling to herself. Rukia gazed up at him, his eyes looked slightly different to her right now. And her own big, blue orbs softened at him.

"I'm here now, aren't I, Ichigo?"

There was nothing else she could say.

"Aa." A grin. "You are."

An arm went around her tiny shoulders, instantly to be met by her protests saying that he was getting her wet. Ichigo smiled at her as she kept whining childishly.

"Let's go home now, Rukia."

**THE END**

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**A/N:** Hello! This is my fourth Bleach fic, and the first one I'll post, which means I'm pretty much new to the fandom so I apologize if you find anything wrong in this or thought Rukia and Ichigo were OOC. The title's got little to do with the fic, from the song by Maaya Sakamoto (_Tell me what the rain knows_) that I was hearing when I started writing this.

I just realized how rain_ had _always been there in those important moments when I was looking at my scans. And it happened to be in three crucial moments for the storyline too, in my opinion. The first one being obviously Ichigo's Mother's dead; the second one, the battle against the Fisher hollow, where Ichigo decided to be a shinigami; and the third, when Rukia parted to Soul Society, and which was vital for the twist in the story. Hence, I decided it would be nice to write a fic where I could somehow connect those scenes. I think this is another of those "important" events too, a change in their relationship, short but significant, I believe.

SO! I better stop rambling. I hope you liked and enjoyed reading it. If you did, please remember to review. I'll be really grateful. See you soon!


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